Ukraine's Kursk Gamble Is Backfiring
The Ukrainian government’s bet that it would aid the larger war effort looks like a losing one.
The Ukrainian leadership is facing a backlash over the Kursk gamble as Russian forces advance in eastern Ukraine:
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has come under a barrage of criticism from soldiers, lawmakers and military analysts over the rapid advances made by the Russian army in eastern Ukraine since Kyiv launched its bold incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
Many Ukrainians celebrated their army’s invasion of Kursk on August 6, hoping the gamble would force Moscow to divert resources to the new front and swing the momentum of the war in Ukraine’s favour.
However, a breach in the frontline in the strategically important Donetsk region this week has triggered a backlash against the leadership in Kyiv, with critics arguing Ukraine’s positions were weakened by the redeployment of thousands of battle-hardened Ukrainian troops to the Kursk operation.
Ukraine’s gamble in Kursk seemed like a dangerous waste of limited resources. Less than a month later, the Ukrainian government’s bet that it would aid the larger war effort looks like a losing one. The hope that it would force Russia to move many of its forces from Ukraine to repel the incursion has mostly been dashed. If the incursion was meant to slow the Russian advance in the east, it didn’t work.